Naruto, the Past, and Hope
by Its-Mysterious
Summary: Naruto, the Past, and Hope is my first ever fanfic, where Naruto wakes up in a prison cell in Suna. Will Naruto be able to save his precious ones the second time around? A time travel Naruto-centric story that I will continue to write over the next few months, or longer. Hopefully I will be able to put out a chapter every few days or so. WIP!
1. Chapter 1: the seal

**Hello everyone! This is my first fanfic so please be sure to tell me how I can improve! And if no one likes it, that's ok. I have trouble with English so please excuse any grammar errors. Thanks!**

 **Chapter one- The Seal**

His eyes opened, and he was back in the hospital. Running over escape plans in his mind, the blonde jinchurriki wondered what had happened that would put a Hokage such as himself back into the sterilized white room he hated so much. He mentally checked himself over for injuries, but nothing seemed to be wrong, except maybe a little bit of chakra exhaustion. The oddest thing was, though, that he couldn't think of any reason why he would have been sent to the hospital. His memory was drawing a blank. The last thing he could remember was investigating that mysterious seal that was found in one of Orochimaru's old hideouts with Captain Yamato and the returned snake sannin. Even Orochimaru himself had absolutely no idea what it was. Maybe the seal… He shot forward to sit up, but he couldn't.

"What the…"

Naruto wondered aloud, as chains restrained him and pulled him back to the bed. He took a better look around the room, and noticed something even more peculiar- the walls of the room were made of a sort of hardened sandstone, and an iron door stood out in the middle of the wall in front of his bed. Why was he in a cell, in Suna? He tried to sense Gaara, but he found he couldn't. Maybe it was because of the many chakra suppressing seals on his arms, legs, and everywhere else. Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps in the hallway, and a key turned in the lock and opened the door. The man was wearing a standard beige flak jacket and cloak, the uniform here in Suna, maroon pants, and he had light blue circles around his eyes, most likely clan markings.

"I knew it!" Mumbled the restrained shinobi as he saw the man enter.

"Let me speak to Gaara!"

"Gaara?" The Suna shinobi wondered out loud, while locking the door behind him. "You mean Lord Kazekage's son?"

A gasp managed to escape the 22 year old Konoha ninja.

"Whaaa?"

"Anyway," said the mysterious Suna shinobi, "I never thought I'd hear those words. You'd have to be crazy to want to talk to the demon child. But anyway, You are in no place to make demands, Leaf Ninja. I'm the one who's going to be talking, and hopefully, for your sake, you're going to be answering."

The Suna Shinobi revealed some kind of small, black rod, and tapped it to Naruto's forehead. Suddenly, liquid fire flashed through his body. The pain was incredible, but he managed to keep in his screams. He had been injured much worse, and besides, his Senju body was extremely resilient.

"Hm…"

The Suna shinobi voiced his concern as his clan jutsu didn't produce even a yelp from the blond boy. He would have to turn it up a few notches.

"Where did you come from?" He asked, pain rod just centimeters above the blonde's forehead.

" how did you end up on the floor of Lord Rasa's office?"

Naruto's head was spinning.

Rasa? Wasn't that Gaara's father? He mentallyConfirmed that statement, remembering what the Suna shinobi had said before. Rasa was the fourth Kazekage, if his memory was correct. Did that mean… He was stranded in the past? The thought was terrible. He could never see Captain Yamato, Kakashi, Sasuke-Teme, Shikamaru, or any of his friends again. Then he thought of Hinata. She would be so worried, and the village- their Hokage- gone without a trace. Then, he remembered- the seal. A flicker of hope crossed his pouting face. If only he could remember what it looked like… Maybe Kurama would remember it, but now he was too busy napping, and he knew the consequences of waking him up from his mid- morning nap. Or his post- mid-morning nap. Or his Noontime nap. He wouldn't wake up the lazy Bijju just yet.

"Answer me, dammit!"

The Suna shinobi smacked Naruto on the head with the rod again, but he was prepared for it this time. The blonde ninja smiled, and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his irises were yellow, with black rectangular pupils. The chakra absorbing seals sucked up all of the sage chakra with exitement, but immediately popped off and turned into frogs, hopping off of him as he broke the chains and sat up.

"Whew, it is nice to feel your chakra again." Said Naruto, stretching his arms and getting off the bed. The interrogator looked on in fear, then backed up against the door with his tanto pointed toward the Konoha soldier.

"I won't let you escape!" The Suna shinobi said, sounding more like he was trying more to convince himself rather than Naruto. Suddenly, the room flooded with chakra, and the sand ninja was tossed off his feet like a piece of paper in a tornado. Naruto picked up his tanto that had clattered to the floor, and slit the left calf of the man, who had backed away in fear and astonishment.

"Stay here," Naruto said, and sniggered to himself at his joke. Without his left ACL that man wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

***[]~~~~~[]***

Naruto walked over to the door and blew it off it's hinges with a modified explosive tag, and walked out into the dark sandstone hallway. It was very long, and the blonde ninja followed his gut feeling and turned left. There were many iron doors along the walls of the underground tunnel that most likely led to more cells, though all were unoccupied. Naruto blew past the doors, and entered his mindscape. He walked the paths of his mind, until he came to the open cage with his Bijju snoozing lazily inside. Naruto rapped on one of the bars of the open cage, the sounds echoing throughout his mind.

"What do you want, kit?" The massive fox asked.

"Kurama, there's something I need to tell you"

He said, staring at his feet below the water in his mindscape.

The jinchurriki didn't know where's to start.

"I already know. I was listening."

"Oh.. Well then, do you remember what that seal looked like? The one we were investigating?"

"No," responded the Kitsune, "But I think I remember the first three symbols- earth, queen, and space."

"How do those symbols cause time travel? That doesn't make sense." Said Konoha's number one knucklehead ninja.

"Whatever, kit. Doesn't matter too much to me, but I admit I miss that guy Shikamaru. His intelligence is respectable."

That was an unusual thing for furball to say. Maybe he was turning over a new leaf? Probably not. Utterly disappointed at the prospect of being lost in time, Naruto yelled,

"But can't you do something?!"

"No, but you can."

"What do you mean, Kurama?"

"This is your only chance to save the precious people in your life who you lost. Life has given you a second chance."

Kurama said thoughtfully. Naruto thought about the implications of this. But if Gaara was already unstable and killing shinobi left and right, that meant his parents were dead. Again. Naruto had failed them. His optimistic smile turned to a deep frown as a wave of sorrow hit his heart. He thought of everyone else he could save- Neji, the casualties of the fourth world shinobi war, Obito, Jiraiya, the Sandaime… his heart flooded with determination. There was a god after all, and they had given him a second chance.

"Okay," he said, reverting back to his natural optimistic personality,

"First stop, Konoha!"

 **So, what do you guys think? The first chapter is 6 pages long. Chapters will vary in length, depending on what happens during the chapter. Feedback is highly encouraged, and thank you all for reading. See ya next chapter!**

 **-Conoreo**


	2. Chapter 2: the Wind and the Sand

**Hello all my cute little readers! There was some confusion over in the last chapter concerning whether or not our favorite knucklehead ninja woke up in his younger body. The answer is no: technically, there will be two Narus in this fic: the older one from the future (who is 22) and the younger from the past(who is 12). But what happens when they meet? Find out next time. Anyways, thanks for all the great support I got from you guys last chapter. Don't forget to leave a review! Enjoy!**

 **-Conoreo**

.

Chapter two: the Wind and the Sand

A cool breeze rushed past the sprinting jinchurriki as moved towards the end of the tunnel. A chill ran down his spine and he took a long sniff, his fox-like nose helping him process the smells in the air. It smelled damp and musty. And he smelled the iron from the blood of people who died behind the iron doors he whizzed by, a blur of motion. Suddenly, he stopped, sliding a couple of meters as his boots fought to grip the cobbled sandstone underneath them. He had reached a kind of stairwell of sorts, that was lit by hanging light bulbs, unlike the dark and cramped passageway he had just come from. He became aware of an approaching chakra signature, and gauged his strength. It would be an easy takedown.

"Oi! Who the hell are you?!" The man asked, finally sensing Naruto's presence. The shinobi looked down the center of the stairwell, and saw Naruto staring up at him. Naruto discreetly made the shadow clone seal behind his back, and two shadow clones silently climbed the rusted metal staircase while the foreign shinobi was distracted with the real Naruto at the bottom of the stairwell.

"Oi, do I know you?" Asked the guard, face in confusion. Naruto was confused too. Suddenly, the shinobi's eyes widened with realization, but then fear.

"Oh god," said the shinobi .

" Namikaze Minato? But I thought you were dea-"

The shinobi was silenced by a rasengan, which tore through him before he had a chance to body fell down a flight of stairs, making a loud series of clangs and thuds. Naruto hung his head and said a silent prayer for the now deceased man. He hated killing the innocent, but he couldn't have rumors that a reanimated Minato was out and about. He didn't want to stain his father's reputation. He did a quick henge- he would create a seal tag to change his appearance later. The interrogator must have taken all of his weapons, sealing scrolls, and parchment. That sucked. For now, he henged to a brown haired girl, about the age of 12, and chubby. He used a basic illusion to procure a green t-shirt with the symbol for 'sky' and some jeans. Nobody would ever suspect a kid like that. He checked for chakra signatures, but except for the people on the surface, it seemed like he was alone. He quickly climbed up the six flights of stairs to the top, and navigated through a maze of corridors, taking several wrong turns until he finally found the exit- a small building directly behind the Kazekage tower. Or at least he thought that's what it was. All the buildings look the same here. Oddly enough, there were no shinobi in this building either. He exited, only for his new weak, 12 year old body to be flung into the air by the wind and sand that was flying in all directions. The cobblestone road he landed on was covered in a few inches of sand, and sand assaulted his exposed face and arms. Suddenly he felt arms close around him as he was scooped up off the ground. Caught? Already? He knew he shouldn't have gone with a girl. Kunoichi are generally more creative and dangerous behind enemy lines. His eyes opened after the feeling of the biting winds stopped, and he coughed up sand out of his small childish lungs.

"Don't worry, baby, it's okay. Sshh, I promise." Cooed a female voice.

"You're one tough girl, you know that? I'll go get some medicine for those nasty cuts on your

arms, you stay here." The female voice said. Naruto looked at his surroundings. He was apparently in someone's house, on a couch. He was lucky that she bought the henge, but he had to act like what he imagined a young civilian child would act like. He laid out on the couch, and inspected his wounds from the flying sand. The kyuubi chakra had almost healed him fully by now. A few seconds later, there was no evidence he had gotten hurt at all.

"Here you go," the woman said, coming back into the room with some healing cream. "Now,

hold your arm out. And what were you doing out there?" She asked, suddenly taking a sharper tone. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"

Naruto whimpered out an apology and held his arm up. The woman stared at it for a second.

"Weren't you hurt just a minute ago?" She asked in confusion.

"I heal fast. I'm from a special clan." Naruto whined.

"Okay, then what's your name, and where are your parents?"

"My name is… Omai. 'Don't have parents." Said Naruto, lying about the first part but sadly, he realized, not about the second.

"Oh. Well, I can take you home, but we have to wait until the storm dies down. We'll get

hurt out there. Can I get you something to eat?" The kind woman asked. "And by the way,

my name is Rika."

"Yes please, Rika-san!" Naruto exclaimed. Being tortured and climbing up all those stairs in an untrained body with chakra exhaustion had made him hungry. Not to mention that he was probably unconcious for a few days, but he had never asked the examiner how long he was out.

"Is some rice balls okay?"

"Yes, Rika-san!" Naruto would do just about anything to get his hands on some Ichiraku Ramen right now, or any food in general. Rika handed the rice balls to Naruto and he ate them in two bites or less each. He probably hadn't eaten in more than three or four days, considering how long he was out.

"My, you were hungry! Let me get some more." Said Rika-san, and she hurried out of the room again. Just then, Naruto felt a huge flare of chakra, that he recognized to be his red- haired friend, but it was different. More feral. More desperate. The winds howled around the tower, shaking it slightly. But above the howling of the wind, he heard a terrible howl that belonged to Gaara's tailed beast. Rika-san reentered the room with more rice balls and some tea and sat down across from the henged ninja. The older woman clearly looked spooked.

"What's happening outside?" Naruto said in the most innocent voice his 12 year old body could muster.

"All the village shinobi are fighting the one tailed beast by the village gates. But don't worry,

the Kazekage will save everyone. It's all going to be fine." She said reassuringly. That's why there were no guards at the underground bunker- they were called to the gates to help keep Gaara under control. Now was the perfect time to escape. Naruto was full after another plate of rice balls, and he laid lengthwise across the orange couch, hands resting on his belly.

. "How did you get those whisker marks?" Asked Rika-san.

"They look cute."

"Oh, thanks," Naruto said sweetly. "I was born that way I guess." Rika-san sat in her chair and watched what she thought was a young girl fall asleep on her couch, and then she silently stood up and walked back to her desk in another room. She ran her hands through her hair, sighing. She still had a lot of reports to write.

 **Hey guys, hoped you liked chapter two as well! This chapter went a completely different way then I thought it would go. I took some advice for things like names and the whole girl-henge thing from some friends this time, to mix it up. At least how I imagine a henge would work is your body is transformed into whatever you imagine, temporarily. Next chapter we will probably see Naruto make his escape from Suna. Hope you enjoyed!**

 **-Conoreo**


	3. Chapter 3: Home Again (kinda)

**Hey everyone, I'm back. I'm cranking out chapters because I'm really bored and also I want to advance the plot quickly so I won't get bored with it. Don't forget to drop a review, it really helps me out a lot. Also, I have noticed some uploading issues. When I upload to the fanfiction website, for some reason symbols disappear, or there will be an extra period or a blank line that I didn't put there. This text should be in bold, but it probably won't be after I upload it. Oh well. Anyway, in this chapter we are finally going to get out of Suna and get into the real plot of the story. Hopefully. Enjoy!**

Chapter three: Home again (kinda)

The 25 year old, chronically late jounin shuffled into the Hokage's office, and made an attempt at a bow. He folded up his current favorite book, Icha Icha: First Date, and stuffed it in his pocket. Kakashi tried to seem interested in what the Hokage was about to say. He failed.

"Only an hour late, Kakashi," Hiruzen said. "Must be a new record."

Kakashi eye-smiled in and endearing way. "Maa, sorry, Hiruzen-sama, I fell in a lake and had to go home to change clothes." Said Kakashi. Hiruzen to gave his pipe a puff, and and then turned his attention to the silver haired man.

"So, Kakashi. Have you made your decision on whether or not you want to be a Jounin

. sensei?"

The Sandaime took another drag from his pipe.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I am ready. When do I receive my team?"

"I have already chosen. Would you like to know now?"

Kakashi looked more interested now, but he had a feeling he already knew at least two of the ninja that would be on his team. Kakashi nodded, and Hiruzen continued.

"You will be teaching team seven- Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha. You . already know why I would give you this team, right?"

Kakashi nodded. He would not let sensei's legacy die. Sensei could not take care of the child now; it was up to him as his jounin sensei. 'Oh, Obito, if only you could see the mess I'm in now…' Kakashi thought to himself.

The third Hokage studied the masked man's face for a moment, and decided that he had made the right decision.

"You know how emotionally charged this team will be, don't you?"

Hiruzen asked, but it wasn't really a question. Kakashi wondered who would cause him more trouble: the emo, brooding Uchiha, or the prankster Naruto. He would find out soon enough, he guessed.

Naruto awoke with a start, completely oblivious to where he was. He settled back down, and thought about how he would manage to escape Suna. He looked out a nearby window; the sandstorm had stopped overnight, and glistening sand covered every surface. The village seemed peaceful, for once. On the road outside, a man pulled an ox cart full of food, parchment, and other items.

A few minutes later, the kind woman from last night walked in the room, holding two steaming plates of bacon, cheese, tea, and some kind of square bread that was flat, like it didn't rise. She set one plate in front of Omai, and one in front of herself.

"Good morning!" She said cheerfully. Naruto managed to grumble back a quick 'good morning' and he tried to sit up forward, but realized he couldn't. He swung his feet over the side of the couch and rubbed his brown eyes, and yawned, still under the henge of the little brown haired girl. He stared at the breakfast delightedly, even though it wasn't ramen. However, when he looked across at Rika, he felt a stab of pain. Was this what it was like to have parents, at least one? Naruto couldn't help himself from getting attached to Rika. He didn't want to leave. Maybe he would come back one day. After breakfast, he helped clean up where he could- he couldn't reach the sink or counter in the kitchen without climbing on it, which gave Rika a laugh. It made Naruto feel ridiculous.

Naruto still had to get out of here, and because he fell asleep last night, he lost his opportunity for escape. The Suna shinobi had definitely noticed his empty prison cell by now, and ninja would be patrolling borders and streets to find him. He needed a plan. Where was Shikamaru when you needed him? Probably napping, a Naruto realized, and he smiled to himself.

"Hey, I have the day off today. Do you want to do something fun?" Rika asked kindly. This woman was really going far out of her way to be kind to a poor, homeless girl. In fact, she was basically becoming a mother. It felt so odd to Naruto, because it felt so normal. Even though Naruto was twenty years old, he felt like a little kid with her mom, going about daily businesses as a family. He wished there was someone like that for his current younger self, which was all the more reason that he had to get back to Konoha. But being someone's child… It felt so right.

"Why are you being so nice to me, Rika-san?"

The woman gave him a sympathetic look, and tried to think of an answer.

"It just feels… Like the right thing to do."She said. She couldn't stand the thought of this little girl scavenging for food, although she looked very well-fed. But something about the look in her eyes looked so lonely, like she lost everything at once. She acted like a child, but she seemed wise beyond her years, and she looked like she had seen some horrible things during her short lifetime.

To be honest, she had Naruto interested. He looked at the tattoo of the sun on his hand, and felt the power from it. He was probably one of the most powerful shinobi alive right now, yet, he wanted to play 'house' and see what Suna kids did for fun.

"Sorry, Rika-san. There's something I really need to do… But I will come back and visit soon,

I promise!"

"Okay then, I won't stop you. Be safe, and good luck, okay?"

"Bye Rika-san! Thank you for everything!" He called as Rika walked him to the door. It was time for the next section of his journey. But he would come back someday to fix Gaara's seal, he thought, and he would visit Rika too. It's incredibly rare for someone to do something just because it is 'the right thing to do'. Rika closed the door behind him with a final 'good luck!', and Naruto was out into the bustling streets.

Naruto made his way to the north side of the city wall, and with a monstrous jump, he was ontop. Big mistake- he was immediately spotted. Oh well.

"Hey, who are you? You shouldn't be up here!"

"Sorry I'd love to chat but I've gotta go!" The Konoha ninja said as he charged the enemy jounin. The jounin threw a flurry of shuriken that curved towards Naruto, probably assisted by wind chakra, but the henged ninja was too fast. He placed his hand with the sun tattoo on the enemy nin's forehead, and he passed out onto the ground. He would wake up in a few hours with no memory of today. Unfortunately, the sound of footsteps reached his ears as a number of shinobi sprinted down the wall at him, throwing kunai and shuriken and basically everything else they had. Naruto borrowed a piece of parchment and a pen from the unconscious nin's body, and he leaped down. He was outside the village. Without the shade of the wall, the sand felt scorching hot beneath his feet. He released his henge, and the longer legs made it a bit easier to run from the shinobi that were pursuing him. The four ninja that were chasing him saw the blonde Konoha shinobi with a orange undershirt, green flak jacket and blue pants disappear into the distance. They struggled to keep up, but after thirty minutes, he was gone.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he passed under the gargantuan trees of the fire country. He stopped running down the path and jumped to the top of a large tree, that stood high above the canopy. It was late afternoon- he had been running for hours. He paused for a moment and pulled out the parchment and pen. One quick seal later, and the blonde ninja slapped it to his back and sent his chakra through. It was an appearance changing seal. Naruto's yellow hair molded and lengthened until it became mid-back height. It then deepened to a shade of red known to the Uzumaki clan, in honor of his mother, Kushina. His body grew a few inches taller, and he made his face look a little thinner. After the transformation was complete, he put his arms out behind him and began running again.

An hour ago he had stopped at a small village to eat, which marked the halfway point of his trip. After another hour or so, he felt some chakra signatures approaching. The older Uzumaki jumped into a nearby tee, and watched as a jounin sensei and three chuunin rumbled by, leaving a trail of dust. Other than that, nothing much interesting happened for a while, until Naruto reached the familiar gates he knew and loved. The newly red- headed man walked through the gates, a huge smile on his face as he saw the village. It wasn't the same as it was in his time, but it always felt good to come home. Kotetsu and Genma waited at the gates, but he didn't have time to talk- they wouldn't recognize him anyway, and that would be a bother. Instead, he sped past them and onto the rooftops, despite the cries of "Who's that?" And "hey, wait!" Behind him.

Another chapter down, guys! Awww, yeah. I can't wait to get into the more exiting pats of the plot. Don't forget to review, and tell me what you want to see in the next chapter! Thanks for reading everyone!


	4. Chapter 4: Explanations

**Hey all my cute little readers! *eye smiles* welcome to chapter number 4! As always, make sure to review and tell me what I'm doing good, what I'm doing bad, and what you want to see in the next chapter. I really appreciate the feedback. Anyway, I want to say thank you for sticking with me and reading this far into my little story. In the next few coming chapters we will begin to see some of adult Naruto's talents and also the other classic Naruto characters. Enjoy!**

…..…..…..….

Chapter 4: explanation

Naruto breathed in the crisp air from his native village. Smiling as he watched the citizens of Konoha going about his business, he leaped from rooftop to rooftop. The now redheaded Naruto made a fast pace towards to Hokage tower. Naruto paused in thought- they wouldn't just let a random ninja into the Hokage tower- he would have to make what Lee liked to call a 'dynamic entrance'. He jumped up three stories through an open window and landed behind the Sandaime, with a kunai to the back of his neck.

"Don't move!" Naruto ordered in his special Hokage voice.

The ANBU who were guarding the Hokage blinked in confusion. Hiruzen sighed, and set down the papers he was working on. One of the ANBU moved to a crouching position to attack, but the Sandaime held up his hand.

"Do what he says."

"Hai, Hokage-sama!"

"Well?" Asked the old man. "What do you desire from me?"

"Turn on your privacy seals and order the ANBU to leave."

"Do what he says."

The ANBU left the room with looks of fear, hatred, and sadness beneath their masks. They had failed. The mysterious enemy shinobi had taken their leader hostage before they could even react. Their careers, and possibly the Hokage's life, were destroyed. They sat silently in the hallway, with their ears pressed to the door in vain, but not even the best of shinobi could sense the going-ons inside the office once the seals were activated. All they could do was wait.

Inside the office, the current Hokage took off his kage hat and set it down calmly as Naruto withdrew the kunai.

"You weren't worried in the least bit, Jiji?" Naruto asked, sitting down in the chair across from the Hokage.

"I could sense your intentions. I'm not a kage for nothing, kid." He took a long drawl from his pipe, then released the smoke in rings that traveled up to the ceiling and then burst, dissipating.

"So," the Hokage spoke up again, "did you become the Hokage after all?"

Naruto looked surprised, but, in hindsight, he probably shouldn't have been. Naruto's red hair and facial features slowly melting back into his normal self.

"How did you know?"

Hiruzen laughed to himself.

"Only one little brat would call me Jiji."

"Hey! I'm a lot stronger now!" Naruto raged.

"You'll always be the same to me. So, what's the future like? Did the world go to hell after I died?"

"No," replied Naruto. " it was more of an accident. Orochimaru, Captain Yamat- err, Tenzo,

and I were investigating a mysterious seal. It activated by proximity, and now I'm either back

in time or in another dimension. Or maybe both. I leave that stuff to Shikamaru." He said, rubbing the back of his head self-consciously.

"So my student finally returned to the village?"

"Kind of, I guess."

"Was Jiraiya proud to see you achieve your dreams?"

"Err, yes, I suppose," Naruto lied. Hiruzen hmmm'ed.

"So is there any plans you have to change the past?"

"Of course. I'm going to save all of my precious people, and prevent the fourth shinobi world

war."

"What?" The Hokage asked, incredulously. "Who was it? Kumo? Iwa?"

"Nope. Madara Uchiha, the Akatsuki, and millions of plant clones."

"But how… Never mind. Not even going to ask." Hiruzen said. "So, what do we need to change first?"

"At the chuunin exams, Orochimaru persuades the sand village into attacking the village. Unfortunately, you died during the invasion, but that's not going to happen this time."

"So the invasion isn't something we can avoid. Why? Did something important happen as a

result?"

"Yes," replied Naruto, what occurs during the invasion effects the plot of our world very seriously. It must happen. The best thing we can do is prepare for it, and prevent as many people from dying as possible."

"That sounds reasonable," said Hiruzen, as her unconsciously scratched his chin. "I'm assuming you want to stick as closely to the original timeline as possible, to prevent unforeseen events?"

"Yeah, pretty much. You make it sound like we're in some kind of story or manga!"

Naruto laughed at the thought, and Hiruzen laughed knowingly.

"Well I trust you, Naruto-kun. I'll let you make the necessary changes until the chuunin exams, but nothing too crazy, ok?"

"Oh course, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen could not believe that the person he was talking to was Naruto. Not because he didn't believe Naruto's story, but because of how mature he was in comparison to his more boisterous younger self, and how strong he had become. He could tell that the blonde jinchurriki had watched thousands of people die in front of him, maybe some of those deaths his fault, but he stood unfazed.

"We need to come up with a cover story for your arrival," said Hiruzen after a few minutes of comfortable silence. "Normally I would have Shikaku or Kakashi to help with this kind of thing, but unfortunately we can't tell him. Not yet, anyway. I'm sure he'll figure it out. So, Naruto, are you thirsty? Hungry?"

"Sure, I'll take something to drink. Whaddya got?"

"Do you drink sake?"

"A bit, usually only after a comrade dies."

A shadow flickered over the time traveler's face, but Hiruzen could tell the statement was supposed to be a joke. It's wasn't funny, considering that shinobi always struggled to forget the losses of their loved ones for the rest of their lives. It was part of the job description. No wonder so many older shinobi tended to either die in battle of kill themselves.

"Anyone you're trying to forget now?"

"Nah. Things have been going pretty well in the future, except for that all the smaller shinobi villages have started attacking the five elemental villages. They feel threatened by our alliance."

"Did you try diplomacy?" Hiruzen said as he pulled out a bottle of sake from somewhere beneath his desk and emptied of into two glasses. He slid one towards Naruto.

"Did you try turning your obviously broken television set on and off again?"

Naruto drained his glass, and slammed it on the table. Hiruzen winced.

"So, for your cover story," said the third Hokage, "think of anything?"

"You could say one of your ninja found me in the woods with no memories."

"And how does that account for your Hokage level abilities? Besides, how does one go from passed out in the woods to the Hokage's most trusted shinobi without anyone ever seeing them? We could try a charade, but it wouldn't last."

Hiruzen downed his cup and poured another round for Naruto and himself.

"You could just say I'm a missing-nin and I decided to settle down in the leaf."

. "That's not too bad, but I'll tell you if I can think of anything better. Can your henge cover up your whisker lines?"

"No, because they are made of chakra. And I don't want to wear makeup. You could just say that the Fourth split the fox into two pieces to make it easier to manage, and sealed half in me. Which is actually partially true."

"Where did he actually seal the other half?"

"Inside himself. My father didn't want me to bear the burden of the entire fox alone." Naruto said. "Guess he wasn't such a bad parent after all. Hey! I've got it!" Naruto said aloud.

"Got what?"

"The reason nobody has ever seen me is because I was training to control my tailed beast in order to make Konoha stronger. You could even make a public announcement and people will definitely believe it!"

"People will ask why they didn't hear about this plan to control your tailed beast, though it actually isn't that bad of an idea."

"Tell them it was a top secret project. If they ask me to train Naruto, I'll tell them he's too young and the beast will overpower him. I actually have both parts of the kyuubi now, and Naruto's half would notice that. I can't imagine that past Kurama and future Kurama would have a good relationship."

"Kurama?"

"That's the kyuubi's real name. We're friends now."

"Can I talk to him?"

"Sure."

Naruto made a shadow clone, and pulled up a chair behind his. The shadow clone sat down, and then it's eyes turned red.

"Why'd you wake me up, Naruto? This better be good."

"You complain about being bored all the time, and then when there's someone interesting to talk to, you complain about coming out?" Naruto teased.

"Yeah, whatever. You still look oranger than a traffic cone."

"Shut up, hairball," Naruto shot back. "And 'oranger' isn't a word. You'd think you would have learned over the past three thousand years."

Hiruzen watched in shock, waiting for the monstrous demon fox to kill them both, but he didn't. He couldn't imagine that one day he would witness the blonde idiot teasing the nine-tailed beast, or anyone having a conversation at all with the 100-story tall monster that nearly destroyed his village all those years ago.

"So. Kurama, it's, er, nice to meet you."

"Please don't feel angry about what happened twelve years ago. I'm a changed fox now, I promise."

Hiruzen smiled feebly at Kurama's joke attempt.

"So did you hear about the cover story?"

"Yeah. Blondie told me about it, telepathically. Seems good enough."

Kurama held up two fingers in a peace sign.

"Ciao."

Naruto's shadow clone puffed out of existence. Hiruzen was speechless.

"Well," Hiruzen said after a few more minutes, "how about sleeping arrangements?"

"I'll take that apartment across from Naruto's." Older Naruto thought for a moment. "And from now on, you can call me Kazuma Uzumaki"

"You really want to keep your last name?"

"Yep. It will give me an excuse to talk to Naruto and Kakashi as well. It's easier to tell a partial truth than lie."

"Well," Hiruzen said. "That's all for now, Kazuma. Make sure to keep me updated."

Hiruzen scribbled something on a sheet of paper, and handed it to Kazuma.

"This will get you your room, and a week's worth of food, until I start you on D-ranks. I'll give you a while to settle in."

"Kazuma jumped up in outrage. "D-Ranks?! I'm not doing another one of those ever again! You wanna fight, old man?!"

"Just kidding, kid." Hiruzen smiled. "Besides, you'd probably beat me. I'll expect your up to the challenge of an SS-ranked mission? Ninja who can do that are hard to come by, now that Kakashi is a jounin sensei and Itatchi and Minato are out of the question."

"Of course. You think they will call me the red flash?"

"We'll see. Have a nice, restful week, and come to the jounin meetings every other morning at six A.M."

"Okay. See you around!" Said Naruto opening the door. Suddenly, he was tackled backward as a flood of ANBU guards, jounin, chuunin, and everyone else flooded into the room, with shouts of, "Hokage-sama, where is the intruder?" "Hokage-sama, are you alright?" "Hokage-sama, how can I be of assistance? Did you defeat the attacker?"

None of them noticed the blonde- haired shinobi lying on the ground, currently being trampled by the unorganized mass of overly concerned ninja. That's right, I said blonde-haired. Lucky for him, he forgot to activate his henge before he attempted to leave the office. Thankfully, no one seemed to nice him when he made his escape.

…..…..…..….

That's right everyone! Chapter four, done! I'm kinda running out of ideas so please drop a review and give me some advice! Some people noticed a few plot holes in the story, so now I will address them:

-I accidentally changed Naruto's age- in the first chapter, it was -19, in the second, 22, and the third, 20. This is a mistake. Naruto (now Kazuma) is 22.

-Naruto was it hungry because he climbed 6 flights of stairs, he was hungry in the second chapter because he had chakra exhaustion and had passed out for multiple days.

Older Naruto is now keeping his identity a secret, so I, and all other characters, except for ones that know the truth about him, will call him Kazuma to prevent confusion.


End file.
